By the time she left Dartz's office, Deirdra had forgotten that she was supposed to meet Alister in the basement. She had far too many other things on her mind. One of them being that laugh. That laugh soft but cruel she'd heard twice -once while trapped in the store room and again, coming from Dartz mere minutes ago. She was certain the two laughs were one and the same. She felt violated. What right had he to spy on her? And how had he done so? Was he hiding in a dark corner? Listening outside the door? In the next room? Was he watching, listening all the time? The questions mounted and only added to her uncomforatbleness, as she had no easy way to get answers. The duel of course, provided a whole other set of questions. For instance, what about Liam Flanaghan, the boy wonder? Why did Dartz need his soul? Sure, he was a great duelist, but there were better. Of all the hundreds of acclaimed duelists in the world, why had he been targeted? There had to be more to it. Perhaps he was an obstacle to the achievement of Dartz's agenda somehow and consequently, Dartz wanted him out of the way. Deirdra couldn't see how the boy could pose that much of a threat, but if indeed he did, she was going to find out how and why. Or at least try to. She got the feeling that Dartz had got away with snowing people for a long time. He needed to be stopped. But she knew she'd have to be careful how she went about it. She would have to act quickly, as there wasn't much time before the duel, but she didn't want to tip off Dartz that she was suspicious. He might have had her room bugged and her phone calls being traced for all she knew. If so, he was probably monitoring use of the computer in her room as well. Crap, she thought. I've got to research this Flanaghan. But how? Suddenly, she remembered seeing a laptop amidst all the clutter in Valon's room. Would he let me use it?, she wondered. With a little difficulty, she found her way back to his room on the other side of the building. She rapped on the door, hoping he was there. "Who is it?", he called from inside. "DeeDee", she replied. The door was opened with a friendly smile. "G'day, mate", Valon said. "Didn't expect to see you back so soon...especially after the royal beating I gave you on the PS2 last night. Itching for more?" "No time. I have a duel later. But I was kind of wondering if I could use your computer", Deirdra answered. "My computer? Don't you have your own?", he asked, scratching his head. "It won't boot up", Deirdra lied. "Alrighty then. You can use mine. On one condition", he said. "And what's that?", she asked. "That you come back from that duel with your soul", he replied softly. Deirdra looked at him in mild surprise. It was the first time she could recall seeing Valon look genuinely serious. "I wouldn't want what almost happened to Mai to happen to you", he went on. Deirdra was a bit confused. "What almost happened to Mai?", she asked.

"She was gonna lose her soul in a duel to Joey Wheeler."

"And she didn't?"

"Nah, but she would've if I hadn't been there to save her neck. But now she don like me none 'cause of what I did. Go figure."

"Mai likes her independence."

"Yeah, I know. But that don mean she shouldn't want nobody to care about her."

"True."

"What about you? You got somebody to care about you? -a bloke, I mean."

Deirdra paused for a moment. Her thoughts drifted back to what had transpired with Alister on the roof the night before.

"That, my friend, remains to be seen."

"Well, I say any bloke that's gotta think twice about you is an idiot!"

Deirdra tried not to imagine how Alister would react to being called an idiot. It was too unpleasant a thought.

"Um..thanks. But how did you save Mai? I thought the seal couldn't be broken."

"It can't. Except by somebody who's got one of these."

He held out his hand. On it he wore a chunky silver ring with a green stone set in it. He tapped the ring for emphasis.

Deirdra looked skeptical. "You saved her with your ring?"

"Not the ring, mate. The stone."

"Let me guess, that green stone is the Orichalcos stone."

"Now you're getting it!"

"The stone breaks the seal."

"Yup."

So it is good for something, Deirdra thought. She patted the stone in her pocket. For the first time, she was glad she had it. It might come in useful sometime. She didn't know how soon that sometime would be.